Children of God

There's a popular phrase, passed around the secular world.  It goes something like this:  "We are all children of God."  Applying that name to everyone indiscriminately is a lie, according to the Bible.
Although the human race was created by God "in His image", we are all born with a sin taint that, uncorrected, will forever separate us from Him.

The text for this morning is Romans 9:8.

8 This means it is not the children of the flesh who are the children of God; rather, the children of promise are counted as descendants.

Paul was speaking to the 1st century Jews of Rome, emphasizing to them that no one is a child of God, by birth.  The reason he was emphasizing this point was that the Jews believed that merely because they were born Jews they had an automatic path to Heaven, whereas Gentiles (non-Jews) were simply "out-of-luck" in the spiritual lottery.

Unfortunately, people tend to do this today.  If we were to conduct a "Jimmy Kimmel"-style people-on-the-street interview to ask this question: "Who are the children of God?", we'd get a plethora of answers.  Some would say that all human beings are "children of God." Others would say, "those who were born into a Christian family, or were baptized as babies or "raised in church". But, I'll bet you that most people would answer "those people who live upright and moral lives, treating others with tolerance and respect".

Those qualities are certainly desirable and admirable in a person.  However, according to the Bible's definition, they do not make a person a "child of God".  The lineage of grace does not flow through a person's human bloodline.  Paul makes clear (and John makes even more clear in 1 John) that children of God are those who have become children through God's promise.  In other words, it is the "children of promise" who are God's true descendants.

What in the world does that mean?

In the Scriptures, God the Father and God the Son made many promises.  However, in Romans 9:4 and 8, Paul was primarily referring to the promises of the Old Testament.  This is because he was writing to Jews, who did not at that time possess the complete New Testament.  In the O.T., God's promises are anchored by 5 major covenants.  But, the scarlet thread that runs throughout all of God's promises, beginning with Genesis 3:15 (the protoevangelium), is the promise to send a Messiah, a Redeemer - - - one who would purchase back mankind for God.  This One would be He who would enable people to become children of God.  That One was, and is, Jesus Christ.

John, one of the 12 apostles, said it more beautifully and succinctly in John 1:12.

But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the children of God, even to them that believe on his name:

KJV 2000

To become a child of God, a person must believe God (take Him at His word revealed in the Bible) and make a personal, intentional decision to receive Jesus Christ as Savior.   When that occurs, a person is then "a Christian", God's child through spiritual re-birth.  We grab hold of God's promises and then He keeps His promises to us.  He "keeps hold of us".

If you are or have been a parent of small children, you realize that they are yours by birth.  At times, you are embarrassed by their behavior, even though your love for them remains constant.  Many times, they do not act like members of your family should act.  However, despite their foibles and flops, they remain your child.  And, hopefully, through much prayer and God's grace, they will grow up to act like it.

This process is analogous to the Christian walk.  In our spiritual infancy and toddler and youth phases, we will make many mistakes as we "grow up" into our relationship with Christ.  Although we became children of God through God's grace and through our faith decision for Jesus, we may not always act like God's children.  That does not negate his promises to us.  He is faithful, even though we are at times wayward in our obedience.  I thank God for that.  His promises are not dependent on my perfection (which is non-existent).

We are not finished with Romans 9.  I'll return to it in my next post.

Father, thank you for extending Your mercy to me, so that I could become Your child.  I am so grateful to be forever Yours.  Please mold me more and more into the image of Your Son, Jesus, my Savior.  In His name, I pray, amen.